See every public fishing venue in Indiana on the map, with boat ramps, camping, parking and full rules for each one.
Kankakee River is a public river in LaPorte County, Jasper County, Starke County, Lake County, Porter County and Newton County, Indiana, managed by State of Indiana (public / navigable water). You can fish it on an Indiana licence; bank access is at road crossings, parks, Indiana DNR fishing-access sites, Fish & Wildlife Areas, state forests and other public land, and riparian owners control the bank on non-navigable reaches. A trout/salmon stamp is required on the Lake Michigan tributary streams. Public access confirmed via marquee water.
The Kankakee River — once the Grand Kankakee Marsh, now a channelised but recovering river through the northwest. Largemouth and smallmouth bass, northern pike, channel and flathead catfish, crappie and bluegill in the sloughs and old cutoffs, and walleye. The Indiana DNR has been restoring habitat and meanders.
It runs roughly 91 miles through the Northern Lakes & Michigan Shore region. Anglers here mostly fish for largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, northern pike, channel catfish; flathead catfish, black crappie, bluegill, rock bass are also on record. Live flow and gauge height come from the Kankakee River At Shelby, In USGS station shown below. The nearest other mapped waters on PiscaMaps are Singleton Ditch and Lake Bel-Aire.
Species from Indiana DNR access and trout-water data.
Night fishing: No statewide night-fishing closure in Indiana. Many state-park and reservoir properties gate at dark or post hours, and some Fish & Wildlife Area lakes are daylight-only — check the property rules. Trotlines, limblines and bank poles are legal on most warmwater rivers and some lakes (not on trout/salmon water) with the gear tagged; the Ohio and Wabash allow more commercial-style gear under a separate permit.
Boats: Monroe, Patoka, Brookville, Mississinewa, Salamonie, the Ohio and the big flowages (Freeman, Shafer) have no horsepower limit; idle / no-wake zones and 'ski hours' are marked and enforced. Most northern natural lakes have a 10-hp limit or restricted skiing hours, and the smaller DNR and FWA lakes are electric-motor-only. Indiana requires boater education for operators born after 31 Dec 1986.
Bank & bivvy camping: Camp at Indiana state parks and reservoirs (which sit on the best lakes — Monroe, Patoka, Brookville, Mississinewa, Salamonie, Raccoon/Cecil M. Harden, Hardy Lake), the state forests, the Hoosier National Forest around Monroe and Patoka, and the state Fish & Wildlife Areas (primitive camping on several). The Indiana Dunes National Park has camping near the Lake Michigan shore.
Tackle: Statewide black-bass daily limit is 5 (14-inch minimum on lakes; 12-inch on rivers and streams), and Monroe, Patoka and a number of FWA lakes carry a slot limit. Walleye/sauger 6 (14-inch), crappie 25, bluegill and redear generous, northern pike and muskellunge each carry a minimum size and a 1-2 fish limit. Trout/salmon limits are 5 in combination inland, with special rules on Lake Michigan and its tributaries. Check the current DNR fishing guide for this water.
Boat ramps: 5 mapped — Boat ramp, Boat ramp, Boat ramp, Boat ramp, Boat ramp.
Camping: 2 sites mapped nearby — Chippewa Campground, Davis Creek Group Camp.
Source: OpenStreetMap contributors.
Loading live flow & gauge height…
Live from USGS gauge 05518000 — Kankakee River At Shelby, In. Full gauge data →
Anyone 18-64 needs an Indiana Department of Natural Resources fishing licence — resident annual is about $23, non-resident annual about $60, and short-term (1-day / 7-day) licences are sold. A trout/salmon stamp (about $12) is required to fish for or possess trout or salmon anywhere in the state; on Lake Michigan and its tributaries that stamp also covers the salmon. Indiana residents 64 and older, and anyone under 18, do not need a licence; a resident 'Lifetime' and a low-cost senior licence are available. A single licence covers the DNR reservoirs (no separate lake permit). Buy from the DNR at on.IN.gov/INHuntFish. An Indiana fishing licence covers navigable rivers. The Ohio River is fished on an Indiana or Kentucky licence within the marked reciprocal zone; the Wabash below Terre Haute is an Indiana-Illinois boundary water fished on either state's licence. A trout/salmon stamp is required on the Lake Michigan tributary streams.
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